Brake-beam fulcrum



Feb. 19 1924. f

. F. DITCHFIELD BRAKE BEAM FULCRUM l Filed April 2O 1920 invention is to provide a cast fulcrum of Patented Feb. 19, 1924.

UITEID- 1Sres FRANK DITcHrIELD, or McNTnnAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, Assrenor.- To V.iiiriinican STEEL l y l1,484,323 ATENT Lorrie-E. 1

FOUNDRIES, OF CHCAG, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY.

'BRAKE-BEAM. run-enum. Y j' Application fned'Aprn 2o, i920; seriai No'. 375,373:-

To all Awhom t may concern: 'j q -Be it known that I, FRANK Drrorrrmnn, a subject ofthe King ot Great Britain, and resident of the city oi Montreal, in the Province of Quebec and Dominion'of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Imvprovements in BrakeBeam Fulcrums', of which the 'following isa ullfclea'r, and eX? act description. v This invention relates to improvements in brake beam ulcrums and the object ofV the simple and eiiicient design which. may be adjusted to vpermit attachment of the brake iever with either right or left inclinations. A further object is to provide a fulcrum which is solid between `the compression'and tension members of the brake beam and. therefore, has no tendency to workloose and permit improper movement in the beam.

Various attemptshave been made to produce a universal tulcrum, that is to say, a tulcrum which may be adjusted to permit inclination of the brake lever to either right hand or left hand, but for the most part, such attemptshave met'with only partial success. 'At the present time, the majority ot' brake ybeam 'fulcrums are of solid onepiece-construction and are made righthanded and left-handed to give brake lever inclination "ina-the desired direction. As these fulcrums are made up permanently in brake beams and cannot be changed without tearing the whole beam to pieces, it frequently happens that a railroad repair sliep will be called upon to replace a greater numbei" of left hand beams than right hand or vice versa, with the result that it soon becomes out of stock in beams of one hand and over-stocked with beams of the. other hand.` This condition necessitates carrying in stock a much greater number ot' beams than will be used.

An adjustable fulcrum has been produced and put into use which comprises a pair ot end members connected to the beam and a revoluble lever engaging portion connected between them. This device gives the desired adjustment an-d is very satisfactory when first put into operation. In a short time, however, movement between the parts commences which increases rapidly and soon renders the beam unsafe and unserviceable.

According to the present invention, a strut is provided having a continuous rigid body between thel compression and tension members of a brake beam' Vand containing 'a revoluble lever engaging member.

1n the drawingsl which'illustrate Vthe in ventiony-Q f Fig. 1 is aV plan view oithefulcrunm partly in section on the line '1Q-1, Figure 2. Fig. 2 isV a side elevation partly in sectionV on the line 2-2, Figur'el'. i i f l Fig.' 3 is a section on thelin'e FigV ure 1.

Figzd is a view similar to Figure 3, showingl the parts in .operative position.V

. F ig. 5 is a fragmentary view similar to Figure 1 showing an' alternative of attaching the parts together.

method Fig. 6 is a'section on theline 6 6, F ig# ure. f

Referring more particularly to the'drawings, 11 designateslthe-'body cfa fulcr'um and 12 a lever carrier or bearing mounted therein. The body comprises a pair orsi-de plates 13 aperturedat 14 and provided toward their ends with transverse webs 15, bei tween which the member 12-is secured. The

platesll?) are connected at one end by a'sutably ribbed and stitlened partv 16 adapted for engagement with thel lcompression member of a brake beam',l the design shown in thedravvings being adapted lfor use with 'a brake beam having a channel compression member. The vplates'arejconnected `at thel opposite endv by portion .17 adapted lior engagement with the tension member of a brake beam. The side plates 18 are opened adjacent the head end 16, as at 18, to provide for the insertion and heading ot 'a rivet 19 connecting the member 12 to the web 15;l

At the foot end 17, an aperture 2O is provided for the same purpose.

The member 12 is cylindrical in form and provided with a diametrically disposed slotv 21 extending substantially from end to end. A pin 22 is provided traversing the slot 21 at a point intermediate the ends of the member, this pin being a sliding fit in the member and slightly smaller than the apertures 14: of the body, so that it may' be inserted through these apertures into the member 12. 'lhe slot 21 is of su'licient length to permit ot necessary movement `of aV brake lever connected to the fulcrum by the pin 22.

In practice, the brake lever lies at an angle (sfrV of about 100 to the vertical and, to permit i this positioning, the edges 'of the body 11 on each side of the member 12 are tiered at an angle of eppro'ziimtely 110? tothe plane of the line 2-27 asshown et 23.

In Figures nnd 6, a slight modification is shown.A 'The member 12a is secured to the body 11a by transverse bolts 24 instead of by the rivets 19. In each end ot' the member 12, two bolt holes 25 are provided arranged lat an angle of approxiinately?,.as clearly shown in Figure 6.

The operation of the device is e 'tremely simple. The tflcrum as shown in` lFigures 1V end 2 is mndeup es :t rirnnrelly..insepn rable partot fr brekegbeem. then the beam isto be placed on n Cnr, it is support-ed `position in the usual lnnrnnerend the member 1.2 disposed with its pin. aperture in line with the body `apertures 14. A brelge lever is passed through the slot 21 'end occupies zi vertical position. Thepin 22 is inserted and the brake lever inclined to right `or leif'tl of its yertioal position yas required. This movement Aofthe brake lever rocks the body 12 aboutzits` axis and ca'rries'the pin 22 out oi' alignment with the epertures'yflfi,

clearly shown in Figureflf, so that thek pinis held by the'body 11 against esffftbe. When inserting a member 12 formed ziccording to the modiiiczition `shown in Eig rires and 6, the bolts ,24 are omitteduntil the lnjekelever has been suitably inclined lund are then inserted through Whichever of the apertures 25 in the member 12a align with the bolt aperture-s ofthe body.

Fronr the foregoing description, it will be seen that at brake beam containing' a iulcrum according to the present inventionma-y be adjusted tor either a right hand or :L lett hand inclination of a brake lever. The body l11 is a onefpieee, continuousstrutbetween the compression and tension membersot a, bra-ke bea-m and does not giye :my opportunity tork working or movement between the members oit` the brake beam. The mem ber 12 vto which the brake lever connects has :t large abutting surfer-e on the Webs 15 oiY the body, so that there will be'no Wear or loosening" with `continued use. The body 11 isin tension between the outer or foot end web l'land the compression member and in compression between this web and the tension mernber, As the body is in tension tlnfough the greater part of its length, it is obviously not subjert to collapse orbnokiing 'I' he pin 22 cannot tall out end cannot be removed without' disconnecting,` a large perf; of the brake mechanism. 1t- Will clearly seenk that the.. rivets 19 or" bolts24; doL not serve :is load transmitting' members but are merely `orthe purpose ot' holdin gi the pei-its 11 and 12 in proper relation, the load being transmitted directly ifi-om thepert12, to the part 11.l Y i Having thus describedY myijnyentioin what 1. A brake beem Ai'ulcrum comprising a bodyY member continuous from end rtoend und edzrptedet one end toenc1rclethe compression member jot n brake beam end it the other end tor co-operationnith the tension member of. a. brakebeam, ende leverv bearing revoluble inV said bodyend integrall ebutments in seid body engaging the entire end surfaces of seid bearing.

A brake beam ti'ilcrum.comprising a body member; 1a. reversible lever bearing lmounted to turn therein end means rfor holding vseid bearing' in either ottwo positions comprising intersecting bolt passages. formed in the beering and bolts adapted to be inserted through said'passegjes and the body member to Ahold the bearing against turning movement.

In Wit-ness whereof, I vlieve hereunto set, my hand.

FRANK DITGHIIELD. 

